Real Salt Lake name Rob Zarkos executive VP of soccer operations

Real Salt Lake have hired Rob Zarkos as executive vice president of soccer operations as part of a front-office restructure, the club announced Wednesday.

Zarkos, who previously served as president of Real Monarchs and vice president of soccer administration for the organization from 2014-2018, will oversee Real Salt Lake, Real Monarchs SLC, Utah Royals FC and the Real Salt Lake academy. He reports directly to owner Dell Loy Hansen.

“I’m excited for this opportunity and it gives me the authority to get things done and execute Mr. Hansen’s vision,” Zarkos said in a statement. “This will allow us to integrate from top-to-bottom efficiently. We’ve grown very quickly and it’s time to integrate everything, put in systems, processes and procedures and generally operate better. I come from a background of building companies and optimizing them, so when it came time to optimize the team side, I jumped at it.”

Prior to moving to Utah, Zarkos spent the previous five years working for Hansen as in-house counsel and VP of Operations in the Wasatch Company's real estate side.

According to the team, Zarkos’ hire will allow RSL general manager Craig Waibel to narrow his focus on the technical aspects of building the Real Salt Lake roster.